Because of Winn-Dixie Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Because of Winn-Dixie Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

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Written by Jody Perry

Allegory : Gone With The Wind

Opal is reading "Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. When she reaches the part about the barbecue thrown by Scarlet O'Hara she decides that Scarlet's reasons for throwing a party might be similar to her own and so decides to throw an outdoor party with Gloria Dump bringing all of her friends together in the same way Scarlet does.

Symbol : The Mistake Tree

Gloria has a tree in her backyard that has dozens of different liquor bottles hanging from it. Each of these symbolizes a mistake that Gloria made on her life.

Symbol : Littmus Lozenged

The lozenges symbolize the loneliness and sadness that was in Littmus' heart when he created his famous lozenges. They also seem to provoke a feeling of melancholy and sadness in whoever is eating one. The lozenges symbolize whoever the person eating one is missing.

Motif : Loss

This motif appears throughout the book and is also inherent on the main character, Opal. She suffers the loss of hero they who left, as well as the loss of her friends when she and her father moved to a new city. Amanda suffers the loss of her younger brother, Carson, and Otis suffered the loss of his freedom. Littmus lost his entire family in the civil war and loss is also a motif that is central to the story of the creation of the Littmus Lozenge. Since Opal found Winn-Dixie as a stray the motif of loss, or being lost, is also one that binds the two protagonists together.

Symbol : Opal's Mother

Although Opal longs to talk about her mother, to her father she symbolizes hurt and a feeling of abandonment, so much so that when he does talk about his feelings for her he actually cries because he still loves her deeply.

Because of Winn-Dixie Questions and Answers

In the novel's opening, we see a little girl who loves her father from a distance, she describes him as something of a turtle, "hiding all the time inside his shell" (p. 67). By the end of the novel, the two have forged a closer relationship, as...

Opal's friends didn't have to find Winn Dixie because he was never missing. He was at the house all along. While Opal's friends waited for her and her father to arrive, they decided to play some music. Before long, they heard a loud sneeze in the...